Glenn to Make Closing Remarks at CPAC 2016

It's turning out to be the year of unprecedented announcements for Glenn. First, the endorsement of Ted Cruz, his first ever political endorsement in 40 years of broadcasting, and now something he never thought would happen — a return visit to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) where he will be making closing remarks this year.

Eight years ago, Glenn spoke at CPAC — and he took his chalkboard along to talk about progressivism.

"So eight years ago, I was asked to speak at CPAC, and I did," Glenn explained Friday on The Glenn Beck Program. "I took out my chalkboard and I said, 'You know, I have to tell you, I've been talking about progressives because progressivism is the disease, but that disease is here in this very room. That disease started with the Republican Party. And it's time for the Republican Party to recognize this.'"

Needless to say, that didn't go over too well, and he hasn't been invited back since. Until now.

Under new leadership, CPAC is heading back to its conservative roots. Matt Schlapp, the new Chairman of the American Conservative Union which runs CPAC, recently reached out to Glenn, inviting him to speak at the 2016 conference.

"So I gladly accepted, and I'm going to be giving I think --- I don't know --- one of the last speeches, if not the last speech at CPAC," Glenn said.

Matt Schlapp joined Glenn on the program Friday to confirm.

"As in most things, you get it right, Glenn," Schlapp said. "And you are going to close out the conference, which is going to be on March 5th . . . right near Ronald Reagan Airport. And you got the theme right too — Our Time Is Now," which is based off of Reagan's very first public event after he was elected president."

A curious Glenn wanted to know what prompted CPAC, one of the oldest conservative groups in Washington, D.C., to change its course from progressivism back to its conservative roots. Schlapp explained how over time, just like old corporations, organizations lose their relevance --- and Schlapp aims to change that.

"I think what we have decided to do is to say, 'Look, we have to be true to our original mission, and we have to be authentically conservative.' And I think if we do that, the market, which are voters and activists across the country, will respond," Schlapp said. "You know, we're not going to be nasty about it, but we're going to stand up for our principles, and we're going to stand up for our country. And CPAC has to reflect that because, you know, we're watching our country transform before our eyes."

Glenn and Matt went on to have a fascinating conversation about how Cuban-Americans, informed by their experience with communism, are playing a vital role at this time in America's history, perhaps being the catalyst to waking up American voters to the reality of socialism and communism. Similar to Ted Cruz being influenced by his father's experience with Castro, Schlapp has heard firsthand accounts from his father-in-law, a Cuban-American who also fled to America to escape Castro's Cuba.

"My father-in-law is a hero of mine," Schlapp said. "He didn't have a lot of wealth, but there was a entrepreneurial class in Cuba at that time before Castro. He started up little businesses. He was an accountant. They had a pawn shop. And one by one, there was a knock on the door and the keys were literally taken from his hands, each one of his businesses, and finally his home. And when that happened, he said to himself and he said to his family, 'Enough is enough.'"

For more of Glenn's conversation with Matt Schlapp, listen below. Get details about CPAC 2016 online.

Listen to this segment from The Glenn Beck Program:

Below is a rush transcript of this segment, it might contain errors:

GLENN: You know, Ronald Reagan said in the 1980s, he said, "Our time is now. Fellow citizens, fellow conservatives, our time is right now. Our moment has arrived to stand shoulder to shoulder in the thickest of the fight. If we carry the day and turn the tide, we can hope that as long as men speak of freedom and those who have protected it, they will remember us. And they will say, 'Here were the brave, and here their place of honor.'"

It is that time again, as I've been saying for a while, that George Washington talked about, "Let us raise a standard that the wise and the honest can repair," what he was talking about was the Constitution: Let's raise that standard up.

So when things get tough, this is the place where people will run for shelter and they will return to it and they will remember what we did and they'll restore America. Now is our time.

In the first time in my lifetime, we have a chance to have somebody, I think, even possibly greater than Ronald Reagan on principles. Ronald Reagan was really, truly remarkable, but the president that the progressive left wants to hide is Calvin Coolidge. And he's the guy who cut the government in half. 50 percent. And we had a deeper depression in 1920 than we did in 1933.

1933, progressives took a hold of it, and we had the Great Depression. But in 1920, we had a greater depression, and a real constitutional conservative took the helm, cut the size of government, cut the spending of government, and we were out of that depression within 18 months. We have a chance of restoring our principles and getting back on -- on point.

Now, I want to -- I want to tell you that as I've always said, the progressive party was started by the Republicans. Not the Democrats. The Republican Party under Theodore Roosevelt started it. The cancer started in the Republican Party. And so when you see people like Mitt Romney, when you see people -- Lindsey Graham, John McCain, they all might be fine people. But they are progressives. And just a touch of progressivism takes us away from the Constitution. And takes us away -- many of our so-called conservative friends are not constitutional. Many of our conservative friends are not conservatives.

Donald Trump is a very good example of this. The guy is not a conservative. Tell me one thing where he's lived his life in a conservative way. I got a very special Bible. A Bible before it my mom. I've never opened it. But I keep it in a very special place. He's not a conservative.

So eight years ago, I was asked to speak at CPAC. And I did. And I took out my chalkboard. And I said, "You know, I have to tell you, I've been talking about progressives because progressivism is the disease, but that disease is here in this very room. That disease started with the Republican Party. And it's time for the Republican Party to recognize this." Well, I haven't been invited back at CPAC. And it's been an interesting -- it's been an interesting thing to watch CPAC battle for its place, battle for its soul.

Are they going to be a progressive establishment organization, or are they going to be a true conservative organization?

I was reading an article just a couple of days ago: Under new leadership, CPAC heads in a more conservative direction. There is new leadership at CPAC.

And Matt Schlapp, who is now the -- I think he's the chairman of ACU, which runs CPAC, he called me the other day. And he said, "We would like to let you know that CPAC is changing. We found our conservative footing, and we want everyone to know that now is the time. Now is our time as conservatives. And we would like you to close CPAC."

So I gladly accepted. And I'm going to be giving I think -- I don't know -- one of the last speeches, if not the last speech, at CPAC, closing it out this coming CPAC, which I don't have the dates.

But I do happen to have Matt Schlapp on the phone, who is the new chairman of ACU.

Did I get this right, Matt, I mean, about the change of CPAC?

MATT: As in most things, you get it right, Glenn. And you are going to close out the conference, which is going to be on March 5th. Saturday, March 5th, right near Ronald Reagan Airport. And you got the theme right too: Our time is now. Which is based off of Reagan's very first public event after he was elected president.

GLENN: So tell me, Matt, why the change? Because CPAC was headed in a very progressive, less conservative kind of direction. And it was really disappointing to watch.

Why the change? What's happened?

MATT: You know, sometimes people have disagreements, and sometimes there are people that make bad choices. But one thing that's happened is the conservative world with conservative organizations in Washington, Glenn, is that we're really old. A lot of times we start off by saying, "We're the oldest conservative group." And we are. We were started by William F. Buckley, right after Barry Goldwater lost the presidential election of 1964.

And over time, it gets hard for organizations to find relevance. And I think there are times for those -- just like old corporations, we see them, you know, making mistakes as well. And I think what we have decided to do is to say, "Look, we have to be true to our original mission, and we have to be authentically conservative." And I think if we do that, the market, which are voters and activists across the country, will respond.

And that's what we're seeing. They're responding to the fact that we're saying -- you know, we're not we're not going to be nasty about it. But we're going to stand up for our principles, and we're going to stand up for our country. And CPAC has to reflect that because, you know, we're watching our country transform before our eyes.

GLENN: Let me ask you this: Usually I don't know -- usually I know pretty much the answer before I would ask, but I have no idea how you're going to answer this one. How much of a role does your father-in-law play in your conservative views?

MATT: Oh, that's a really kind question. My father-in-law is a hero of mine. My father-in-law grew up in Cuba. He was like a lot of people. He didn't have a lot of -- he didn't have a lot of wealth. But there was a entrepreneurial class in Cuba at that time before Castro. He started up little businesses. He was an accountant. They had a pawn shop. And one by one, there was a knock on the door and the keys were literally taken from his hands, each one of his businesses, and finally his home. And when that happened, he said to himself and he said to his family, "Enough is enough." And he was a young man at this point. And he said, "We have to do something to stop Castro." And he actually organized with friends and associates a -- you know, they were freedom fighters. And they pulled together. And they actually tried to HEP effasinate Castro with a bazooka.

And, Glenn, they actually got the bazooka, because in freedom-loving places, there were always firearms available for good purposes. They got the bazooka, but they had an insurgent inside them who tattled on them. And many of them were assassinated. Many of them died in prison. His cellmate was assassinated in prison. And this feisty guy got out of prison, took on Castro, and is still alive to this day and is absolutely disgusted and appalled at Washington -- what the country he now loves, America, is doing in embracing the Castros. It's just another example of what Obama is doing to try -- to try to destroy the underpinnings of our country.

GLENN: I will tell you this: I think -- this is one of the reasons why I trust Ted Cruz so much because I know his dad. And, you know, his dad had a similar story: He was marching to his execution, and thought, "It is all -- it's all over." Got to America and really understood what Castro was doing. And worked against Castro here. And raised his son to be who Ted Cruz is. And I find it interesting that it is the Cuban-Americans that are starting to rise to the top. And I think many of them were raised for this time in particular. Because their fathers or their mothers experienced it and can see it, unlike anybody else.

And I know this is your father-in-law. That's why I asked the question. I mean, how much has he influenced you on where you're headed now and what you see coming our way?

MATT: Well, let me tell you, when I his beautiful daughter, my wife Mercedes, who is named after the Virgin of HEP Mercedes because he prayed to her. He said -- he's not an overly religious man, Glenn. That's actually something my wife and I work on him on.

But, you know, he did believe that if he prayed, maybe he would get released from jail. And he prayed to the Virgin of Mercedes. And when he was released, he named his daughter Mercedes. And, you know, it is -- it's a beautiful story.

I do think that these people are -- these people who fled tyranny understand it better than those of us who have read about it in our history books. And on our first date, we both asked each other questions.

The most thing that I was worried about my future wife might be is a Miami Hurricanes fan because I've been fighting Irishmen from Notre Dame, and I was very worried that I couldn't possibly get through Saturday afternoons if she was a Miami Hurricane fan.

And her question for me, Glenn, was -- this had just happened at the end of the Clinton administration. She said, "Elliot HEP Gonzalez, send them back or keep them?" And I said without a hesitation, "Keep them." And you never return a boy back to the commies. That's one thing that's knit in all of our souls.

And that got that first date off to the right start, I'll tell you that much.

GLENN: You know, you just openly talk about God here. I'm in South Carolina. I got in the car. I just did an event early this morning. And I got into the car and I said to my team, "You know what's really nice, in Texas and in the Carolinas, it's like -- there's a few places in the country it's like this, but it's certainly not like this in the North. And the North, I have to kind of watch my words because you can't speak the language of God. You just can't say, 'Look, read your Scriptures. You know what it says. You know where we are.' Because that just puts you into a freak zone."

MATT: That's right.

GLENN: The culture has decayed. And without organizations -- this is why it was so sad when I just saw CPAC and other organizations kind of saying, "Well, you know, conservatives, we're more establishment." The culture is decaying. And if we don't grab on to the roots of our culture, we're doomed.

MATT: We're doomed. And I drive my four kids to school every morning. My five girls, I drive four of them to school every morning. You know, I'm a news guy, so I'm listening to what's happening on the news. You know, Glenn, when you have young kids, you really can't listen to the news anymore. I have to lower that volume almost every morning because really all the news is concerned with is gender confusion and bathrooms and things that are -- you know, you scratch your head.

With everything that's going on in the world, our focus as a country is really on all the wrong things. And it's a sad thing for kids. And I'm completely where you are, in terms of how dire the situation is, but I continue to be hopeful. And that's why we have this Ronald Reagan quote as our theme for our CPAC conference.

You know, we're in the thickest of the fight. And if we stand shoulder to shoulder, we can save our country. And our country is worth saving still.

And I think it's Biblical. You know, whenever you have good people still, it's worth saving. And there are wonderful people out there, and we need to band together. And we need to grow our numbers. And in a democracy, we need to convince others to stand with us. And CPAC, I think, is a very important moment in this presidential campaign to do that.

GLENN: You don't have a problem with me speaking my mind because I'm going to let it all hang out.

MATT: You know, Glenn, if I did have a problem with that, would I be successful in trying to edit you?

GLENN: Okay. Good. No, you wouldn't. No, you wouldn't.

I'm thrilled and honored that you would ask as you reset CPAC, and I can't wait. So we'll see you there.

MATT: You're going to close us down. But you're going to close us down by lifting us up. And the stakes are high.

GLENN: Thank you very much, I appreciate it, man. There it is. Something that I would never thought would happen, I'm going to be closing down -- in a positive way, I'm going to be closing down CPAC. Because there was a while there, I might want to close down CPAC. But that's a different story.

Featured Images: Courtesy of CPAC

URGENT: FIVE steps to CONTROL AI before it's too late!

MANAURE QUINTERO / Contributor | Getty Images

By now, many of us are familiar with AI and its potential benefits and threats. However, unless you're a tech tycoon, it can feel like you have little influence over the future of artificial intelligence.

For years, Glenn has warned about the dangers of rapidly developing AI technologies that have taken the world by storm.

He acknowledges their significant benefits but emphasizes the need to establish proper boundaries and ethics now, while we still have control. But since most people aren’t Silicon Valley tech leaders making the decisions, how can they help keep AI in check?

Recently, Glenn interviewed Tristan Harris, a tech ethicist deeply concerned about the potential harm of unchecked AI, to discuss its societal implications. Harris highlighted a concerning new piece of legislation proposed by Texas Senator Ted Cruz. This legislation proposes a state-level moratorium on AI regulation, meaning only the federal government could regulate AI. Harris noted that there’s currently no Federal plan for regulating AI. Until the federal government establishes a plan, tech companies would have nearly free rein with their AI. And we all know how slowly the federal government moves.

This is where you come in. Tristan Harris shared with Glenn the top five actions you should urge your representatives to take regarding AI, including opposing the moratorium until a concrete plan is in place. Now is your chance to influence the future of AI. Contact your senator and congressman today and share these five crucial steps they must take to keep AI in check:

Ban engagement-optimized AI companions for kids

Create legislation that will prevent AI from being designed to maximize addiction, sexualization, flattery, and attachment disorders, and to protect young people’s mental health and ability to form real-life friendships.

Establish basic liability laws

Companies need to be held accountable when their products cause real-world harm.

Pass increased whistleblower protections

Protect concerned technologists working inside the AI labs from facing untenable pressures and threats that prevent them from warning the public when the AI rollout is unsafe or crosses dangerous red lines.

Prevent AI from having legal rights

Enact laws so AIs don’t have protected speech or have their own bank accounts, making sure our legal system works for human interests over AI interests.

Oppose the state moratorium on AI 

Call your congressman or Senator Cruz’s office, and demand they oppose the state moratorium on AI without a plan for how we will set guardrails for this technology.

Glenn: Only Trump dared to deliver on decades of empty promises

Tasos Katopodis / Stringer | Getty Images

The Islamic regime has been killing Americans since 1979. Now Trump’s response proves we’re no longer playing defense — we’re finally hitting back.

The United States has taken direct military action against Iran’s nuclear program. Whatever you think of the strike, it’s over. It’s happened. And now, we have to predict what happens next. I want to help you understand the gravity of this situation: what happened, what it means, and what might come next. To that end, we need to begin with a little history.

Since 1979, Iran has been at war with us — even if we refused to call it that.

We are either on the verge of a remarkable strategic victory or a devastating global escalation. Time will tell.

It began with the hostage crisis, when 66 Americans were seized and 52 were held for over a year by the radical Islamic regime. Four years later, 17 more Americans were murdered in the U.S. Embassy bombing in Beirut, followed by 241 Marines in the Beirut barracks bombing.

Then came the Khobar Towers bombing in 1996, which killed 19 more U.S. airmen. Iran had its fingerprints all over it.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, Iranian-backed proxies killed hundreds of American soldiers. From 2001 to 2020 in Afghanistan and 2003 to 2011 in Iraq, Iran supplied IEDs and tactical support.

The Iranians have plotted assassinations and kidnappings on U.S. soil — in 2011, 2021, and again in 2024 — and yet we’ve never really responded.

The precedent for U.S. retaliation has always been present, but no president has chosen to pull the trigger until this past weekend. President Donald Trump struck decisively. And what our military pulled off this weekend was nothing short of extraordinary.

Operation Midnight Hammer

The strike was reportedly called Operation Midnight Hammer. It involved as many as 175 U.S. aircraft, including 12 B-2 stealth bombers — out of just 19 in our entire arsenal. Those bombers are among the most complex machines in the world, and they were kept mission-ready by some of the finest mechanics on the planet.

USAF / Handout | Getty Images

To throw off Iranian radar and intelligence, some bombers flew west toward Guam — classic misdirection. The rest flew east, toward the real targets.

As the B-2s approached Iranian airspace, U.S. submarines launched dozens of Tomahawk missiles at Iran’s fortified nuclear facilities. Minutes later, the bombers dropped 14 MOPs — massive ordnance penetrators — each designed to drill deep into the earth and destroy underground bunkers. These bombs are the size of an F-16 and cost millions of dollars apiece. They are so accurate, I’ve been told they can hit the top of a soda can from 15,000 feet.

They were built for this mission — and we’ve been rehearsing this run for 15 years.

If the satellite imagery is accurate — and if what my sources tell me is true — the targeted nuclear sites were utterly destroyed. We’ll likely rely on the Israelis to confirm that on the ground.

This was a master class in strategy, execution, and deterrence. And it proved that only the United States could carry out a strike like this. I am very proud of our military, what we are capable of doing, and what we can accomplish.

What comes next

We don’t yet know how Iran will respond, but many of the possibilities are troubling. The Iranians could target U.S. forces across the Middle East. On Monday, Tehran launched 20 missiles at U.S. bases in Qatar, Syria, and Kuwait, to no effect. God forbid, they could also unleash Hezbollah or other terrorist proxies to strike here at home — and they just might.

Iran has also threatened to shut down the Strait of Hormuz — the artery through which nearly a fifth of the world’s oil flows. On Sunday, Iran’s parliament voted to begin the process. If the Supreme Council and the ayatollah give the go-ahead, we could see oil prices spike to $150 or even $200 a barrel.

That would be catastrophic.

The 2008 financial collapse was pushed over the edge when oil hit $130. Western economies — including ours — simply cannot sustain oil above $120 for long. If this conflict escalates and the Strait is closed, the global economy could unravel.

The strike also raises questions about regime stability. Will it spark an uprising, or will the Islamic regime respond with a brutal crackdown on dissidents?

Early signs aren’t hopeful. Reports suggest hundreds of arrests over the weekend and at least one dissident executed on charges of spying for Israel. The regime’s infamous morality police, the Gasht-e Ershad, are back on the streets. Every phone, every vehicle — monitored. The U.S. embassy in Qatar issued a shelter-in-place warning for Americans.

Russia and China both condemned the strike. On Monday, a senior Iranian official flew to Moscow to meet with Vladimir Putin. That meeting should alarm anyone paying attention. Their alliance continues to deepen — and that’s a serious concern.

Now we pray

We are either on the verge of a remarkable strategic victory or a devastating global escalation. Time will tell. But either way, President Trump didn’t start this. He inherited it — and he took decisive action.

The difference is, he did what they all said they would do. He didn’t send pallets of cash in the dead of night. He didn’t sign another failed treaty.

He acted. Now, we pray. For peace, for wisdom, and for the strength to meet whatever comes next.


This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Globalize the Intifada? Why Mamdani’s plan spells DOOM for America

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

If New Yorkers hand City Hall to Zohran Mamdani, they’re not voting for change. They’re opening the door to an alliance of socialism, Islamism, and chaos.

It only took 25 years for New York City to go from the resilient, flag-waving pride following the 9/11 attacks to a political fever dream. To quote Michael Malice, “I'm old enough to remember when New Yorkers endured 9/11 instead of voting for it.”

Malice is talking about Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist assemblyman from Queens now eyeing the mayor’s office. Mamdani, a 33-year-old state representative emerging from relative political obscurity, is now receiving substantial funding for his mayoral campaign from the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

CAIR has a long and concerning history, including being born out of the Muslim Brotherhood and named an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror funding case. Why would the group have dropped $100,000 into a PAC backing Mamdani’s campaign?

Mamdani blends political Islam with Marxist economics — two ideologies that have left tens of millions dead in the 20th century alone.

Perhaps CAIR has a vested interest in Mamdani’s call to “globalize the intifada.” That’s not a call for peaceful protest. Intifada refers to historic uprisings of Muslims against what they call the “Israeli occupation of Palestine.” Suicide bombings and street violence are part of the playbook. So when Mamdani says he wants to “globalize” that, who exactly is the enemy in this global scenario? Because it sure sounds like he's saying America is the new Israel, and anyone who supports Western democracy is the new Zionist.

Mamdani tried to clean up his language by citing the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, which once used “intifada” in an Arabic-language article to describe the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. So now he’s comparing Palestinians to Jewish victims of the Nazis? If that doesn’t twist your stomach into knots, you’re not paying attention.

If you’re “globalizing” an intifada, and positioning Israel — and now America — as the Nazis, that’s not a cry for human rights. That’s a call for chaos and violence.

Rising Islamism

But hey, this is New York. Faculty members at Columbia University — where Mamdani’s own father once worked — signed a letter defending students who supported Hamas after October 7. They also contributed to Mamdani’s mayoral campaign. And his father? He blamed Ronald Reagan and the religious right for inspiring Islamic terrorism, as if the roots of 9/11 grew in Washington, not the caves of Tora Bora.

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

This isn’t about Islam as a faith. We should distinguish between Islam and Islamism. Islam is a religion followed peacefully by millions. Islamism is something entirely different — an ideology that seeks to merge mosque and state, impose Sharia law, and destroy secular liberal democracies from within. Islamism isn’t about prayer and fasting. It’s about power.

Criticizing Islamism is not Islamophobia. It is not an attack on peaceful Muslims. In fact, Muslims are often its first victims.

Islamism is misogynistic, theocratic, violent, and supremacist. It’s hostile to free speech, religious pluralism, gay rights, secularism — even to moderate Muslims. Yet somehow, the progressive left — the same left that claims to fight for feminism, LGBTQ rights, and free expression — finds itself defending candidates like Mamdani. You can’t make this stuff up.

Blending the worst ideologies

And if that weren’t enough, Mamdani also identifies as a Democratic Socialist. He blends political Islam with Marxist economics — two ideologies that have left tens of millions dead in the 20th century alone. But don’t worry, New York. I’m sure this time socialism will totally work. Just like it always didn’t.

If you’re a business owner, a parent, a person who’s saved anything, or just someone who values sanity: Get out. I’m serious. If Mamdani becomes mayor, as seems likely, then New York City will become a case study in what happens when you marry ideological extremism with political power. And it won’t be pretty.

This is about more than one mayoral race. It’s about the future of Western liberalism. It’s about drawing a bright line between faith and fanaticism, between healthy pluralism and authoritarian dogma.

Call out radicalism

We must call out political Islam the same way we call out white nationalism or any other supremacist ideology. When someone chants “globalize the intifada,” that should send a chill down your spine — whether you’re Jewish, Christian, Muslim, atheist, or anything in between.

The left may try to shame you into silence with words like “Islamophobia,” but the record is worn out. The grooves are shallow. The American people see what’s happening. And we’re not buying it.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Could China OWN our National Parks?

Jonathan Newton / Contributor | Getty Images

The left’s idea of stewardship involves bulldozing bison and barring access. Lee’s vision puts conservation back in the hands of the people.

The media wants you to believe that Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) is trying to bulldoze Yellowstone and turn national parks into strip malls — that he’s calling for a reckless fire sale of America’s natural beauty to line developers’ pockets. That narrative is dishonest. It’s fearmongering, and, by the way, it’s wrong.

Here’s what’s really happening.

Private stewardship works. It’s local. It’s accountable. It’s incentivized.

The federal government currently owns 640 million acres of land — nearly 28% of all land in the United States. To put that into perspective, that’s more territory than France, Germany, Poland, and the United Kingdom combined.

Most of this land is west of the Mississippi River. That’s not a coincidence. In the American West, federal ownership isn’t just a bureaucratic technicality — it’s a stranglehold. States are suffocated. Locals are treated as tenants. Opportunities are choked off.

Meanwhile, people living east of the Mississippi — in places like Kentucky, Georgia, or Pennsylvania — might not even realize how little land their own states truly control. But the same policies that are plaguing the West could come for them next.

Lee isn’t proposing to auction off Yellowstone or pave over Yosemite. He’s talking about 3 million acres — that’s less than half of 1% of the federal estate. And this land isn’t your family’s favorite hiking trail. It’s remote, hard to access, and often mismanaged.

Failed management

Why was it mismanaged in the first place? Because the federal government is a terrible landlord.

Consider Yellowstone again. It’s home to the last remaining herd of genetically pure American bison — animals that haven’t been crossbred with cattle. Ranchers, myself included, would love the chance to help restore these majestic creatures on private land. But the federal government won’t allow it.

So what do they do when the herd gets too big?

They kill them. Bulldoze them into mass graves. That’s not conservation. That’s bureaucratic malpractice.

And don’t even get me started on bald eagles — majestic symbols of American freedom and a federally protected endangered species, now regularly slaughtered by wind turbines. I have pictures of piles of dead bald eagles. Where’s the outrage?

Biden’s federal land-grab

Some argue that states can’t afford to manage this land themselves. But if the states can’t afford it, how can Washington? We’re $35 trillion in debt. Entitlements are strained, infrastructure is crumbling, and the Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, and National Park Service are billions of dollars behind in basic maintenance. Roads, firebreaks, and trails are falling apart.

The Biden administration quietly embraced something called the “30 by 30” initiative, a plan to lock up 30% of all U.S. land and water under federal “conservation” by 2030. The real goal is 50% by 2050.

That entails half of the country being taken away from you, controlled not by the people who live there but by technocrats in D.C.

You think that won’t affect your ability to hunt, fish, graze cattle, or cut timber? Think again. It won’t be conservatives who stop you from building a cabin, raising cattle, or teaching your grandkids how to shoot a rifle. It’ll be the same radical environmentalists who treat land as sacred — unless it’s your truck, your deer stand, or your back yard.

Land as collateral

Moreover, the U.S. Treasury is considering putting federally owned land on the national balance sheet, listing your parks, forests, and hunting grounds as collateral.

What happens if America defaults on its debt?

David McNew / Stringer | Getty Images

Do you think our creditors won’t come calling? Imagine explaining to your kids that the lake you used to fish in is now under foreign ownership, that the forest you hunted in belongs to China.

This is not hypothetical. This is the logical conclusion of treating land like a piggy bank.

The American way

There’s a better way — and it’s the American way.

Let the people who live near the land steward it. Let ranchers, farmers, sportsmen, and local conservationists do what they’ve done for generations.

Did you know that 75% of America’s wetlands are on private land? Or that the most successful wildlife recoveries — whitetail deer, ducks, wild turkeys — didn’t come from Washington but from partnerships between private landowners and groups like Ducks Unlimited?

Private stewardship works. It’s local. It’s accountable. It’s incentivized. When you break it, you fix it. When you profit from the land, you protect it.

This is not about selling out. It’s about buying in — to freedom, to responsibility, to the principle of constitutional self-governance.

So when you hear the pundits cry foul over 3 million acres of federal land, remember: We don’t need Washington to protect our land. We need Washington to get out of the way.

Because this isn’t just about land. It’s about liberty. And once liberty is lost, it doesn’t come back easily.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.